


reach for the stars

by ascience



Category: Football RPF, Sports RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern München, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-03 16:31:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2857514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ascience/pseuds/ascience
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fact that he’s wearing an apron that says <em>Pep’s</em>, the name of the supermarket, is slowly filed away by Mario but that’s not what makes his jaw drop.<br/>The guy is hot. And tall. A lethal combination for Mario.</p><p>(AU in which Mario deals with useless roommates and Jérôme works in a supermarket)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Some days suck and some days suck _spectacularly_.

Mario oversleeps because apparently the stupid alarm clock that Marco got him for his birthday stops working when you hit snooze more than three times and when Mario notices how late it is, he’s already missed his first class.

He’ll even have to hurry to be on time for the next lecture so he scrambles to get out of bed, stubbing his toe in the process and cursing in pain.

Mario attempts to text Toni to save a seat but makes the mistake of also trying to get dressed at the same time. He gets his head stuck in his shirt and when he pulls to get it over his shoulders, he drops his phone and the screen cracks. The phone still works but it’s nonetheless a _really great_ fucking way to start the day.

Mario grabs pen and writing pad because he can’t be bothered with anything else and he’s almost out of the door to the hallway when he sees Marco sitting in front of the TV, watching cartoons.

Generally, that’s not a weird thing but Marco should probably be in class right now, too, and even if he’s skipping, he could at least have woken up Mario, since it’s his broken alarm clock that ruined this morning anyway.

“Dude, why didn’t you wake me up?” Mario calls somewhat angrily because sure, he’s in a hurry but never in such a hurry that he couldn’t tease Marco.

Marco shrugs. “Come on, it’s the weekend, just sleep in like everybody else.”

Okay, Mario really can’t believe this fucker. “What are talking about?” he asks in disbelief, “It’s not the weekend, Marco. It’s _Tuesday_.”

Marco briefly looks around the room with a calculating gaze like he’s contemplating whether it’s worth getting up and going to uni or not but in the end he slumps back on the floor, eyes fastened on the screen, probably honestly interested in what the cute red tractor and its friends are up to next.

“Whatever,” Marco mumbles and turns the volume up.

When nothing else follows, Mario gives up and leaves their flat. On his way running through the hallways of the dorm, he accidentally slips twice and elbows Juan into the stomach as he basically flies down the steps. It’s Juan who apologizes.

Mario sneaks in only ten minutes late into the lecture and – there’s no saved seat. Instead, Toni is treacherously sitting next to the new foreign student and they’re swapping blinding smiles while ignoring the professor.

Mario has to sit behind some huge guy with shoulders so square that there’s probably a picture of them below the dictionary definition of equilateral rectangle and in effect he doesn’t manage to take any useful notes at all.

His fingers are stained with ink from doodling on the table when the lecture is over and in retrospect, he could just as well have stayed at home and avoided the rush just like Marco.

Mario groans when he levels himself up from the chair and he’s still groaning inwardly when he carries himself through the student groups and right across the street from the building to McDonalds.  
Not so surprisingly, the day manages to get worse and some employee asks Mario whether he wants a Happy Meal which. _Okay._ So he’s short, Mats never lets him forget that and keeps putting his favourite mug on top of the fridge, but Mario definitely doesn’t look like a kid that wants to decide between horse or robot toys for a Happy Meal.

And anyway, it’s nobody’s fucking business if Mario chooses the robot toy.

Mario spends the next couple of hours in the library, trying to eat snacks as quietly as possible, opening random books and photocopying because it’s one way to relax after a shitty day.

When he heads home after all, he takes a detour to the closest supermarket because he’s craving his favourite caramel candy and Marco ate the last couple of pieces two days ago without asking (although he denies it).

It’s only another rain drop on his once sunny mind that they have apparently changed the whole layout of the shop and Mario has to find his way past spelt granola to get to the candy aisle.

The caramel isn’t where it used to be either – on the lowest shelf – but instead they’ve moved it onto the _highest_ shelf that was probably built for some race of aliens that grows twenty metres tall and likes caramel candy.

Mario tilts back his head and squints at the candy, calculating his chances of reaching it without having to jump. He’s never been particularly good at physics though so he gives up, glances left and right to make sure nobody is watching and extends his arm for the candy.

There’s still approximately a kilometre between the tips of Mario’s fingers and the edge of the shelf but Mario is dead set on getting that bloody plastic bag so he stands on his tiptoes and tries again.

His fingers brush the bag of candy now, just a bit closer, a _tiny_ bit –

Someone steps up behind Mario, reaches over his head and easily grabs the exact bag Mario was aiming for out of the shelf.

Mario is _furious_ to say the least. He stomps his feet and gets ready to start a loud rant on the decay of this planet because this day’s problems have bottled up inside of him: He overslept, he sat through a useless lecture, got offered a Happy Meal, was really close to photocopying his own face and now he has to be disrespected by some random-ass guy in a supermarket over a fucking bag of caramel candy.

Mario turns around on his heels and opens his mouth to go off but the words get stuck in his throat as he faces the other guy. The fact that he’s wearing an apron that says _Pep’s_ , the name of the supermarket, is slowly filed away by Mario but that’s not what makes his jaw drop.

The guy is _hot_. And _tall_. A lethal combination for Mario.

As Mario is stumped, Hot And Tall drops the bag of candy into Mario’s shopping basket.

“Thank you for shopping at _Pep’s_.” the guy says with a faint smile that he probably fakes for customers, then he’s around the corner and gone.

\--

Marco is still watching TV when Mario comes back to the dorm and Mario is 100% convinced that it’s what he’s being doing all day.  
At least there’s an empty pizza box next to him or Mario might have to get worried about Marco not eating enough, god forbid.

“Did you leave the house – never mind, did you leave the room today?” Mario asks just to be a dick as he throws his jacket and the candy onto the couch and takes off his shoes.

“Eh,” Marco just replies and makes a noncommittal noise, underlined with a wave of his hand.

“Alright. Where’s Mats? I’m going to have to ask him to seduce someone to get the notes for today’s paedagogy class and that other seminar thingy because I’ve got nothing.”

Marco laughs and zaps through the channels.

“So hurrying to get to the lecture this morning was absolutely useless. I knew that.” he says with a smart-ass grin. “But about that, Mats is picking up Benni from the train station so I guess he’s going to be all booked out on seduction duties tonight.”

“No offense, but I thought I could at least get a good night’s sleep today.” Mario groans and throws himself onto the couch, watching the TV flicker through news programmes. He opens the bag of candy and slides one piece into his mouth.

The sweet, sticky taste manages to improve his mood so far that he doesn’t even mind Marco taking three pieces of caramel as well and sits through an entire episode of _Farmer Seeks Wife_ before they hear the door open.

It’s Mats and Benni, of course, not separating as they step into the room. They’re french-kissing like they’re not aware of Mario’s and Marco’s presence but, judging from past experiences, they’re very much aware but they also very much don’t give a shit.

Benni presses Mats against the wall and teases deep moans out of him, as his lips travel from Mats’ mouth to his jaw, then to his neck.

“Get a room,” Mario says and Marco makes a retching noise without taking his eyes off the TV screen. They’ve become way too comfortable with the almost-pornography in their dorm but then again, once you walk into laundry room at 2 am (it happens) and find Mats on his knees _not_ scrubbing the floor, you’ve seen it all.

Mats and Benni tumble towards Mats’ and Marco’s room, both already kicking off their shoes and shedding layers of clothes. The door closes behind them and, in precaution, Marco turns up the volume of the TV a few notches.

Briefly, only the music of a toothpaste commercial fill the room and Mario is about to ask whether Mats has trouble getting it up when the sound effects start as usual.

The dorm walls are thin and André claims he once heard Mr Podolski sing _Halo_ in the shower through several rooms, across two hallways all the way from the teachers’ apartments but even though that might not be true, any voice above a whisper is definitely audible from the next room.

“Fuck – oh God – _fuck_ me,” Mats moans in the other room and Mario doesn’t even bother with trying to cover his ears anymore, he just pops another piece of candy into his mouth and groans with exhaustion.

Benni’s voice is clear as day when he groans for entirely different reasons and hoarsely says, “This is better than Skype Sex” which makes Marco shoot Mario the look of a man who is very, very done.

The next few minutes are followed by several loud noises, rustling and a low running commentary on the happenings by Mats himself, interrupted by pants and moans.

Mario tries to drown out the noise by biting on the candy and listening to his own chewing so that he eats through the bag in no time. At the end he’s floating on sugar and also hates himself a bit when he has to get up to go to bed.

He brushes his teeth and when he walks into his room, he finds Marco lying on the floor under his Lion King blanket, playing air drums to match the rhythm of Mats’ bed crashing against the wall in the other room.

“What are you doing?”

Marco halts in his drumming motions and frowns like it’s completely obvious what he’s doing.

“I’ve been sexiled,” he explains in a low, dramatic voice, “and I’m glad to find shelter here.” He returns to his normal voice when he says, “No, but you didn’t seriously expect me to sleep in my bed and watch them go at it right next to me? And I’m not staying on the couch either when you have a perfectly fine room all for yourself.”

Mario sighs and nods. It’s not like he has a chance to convince Marco to leave, and he doesn’t have the energy either.

Mario slips into bed and looks for his earphones to drown out the noise of Benni describing Mats’ mouth _at length_ but doesn’t find him and has to resign himself with putting his pillow over his head.

“At least they’re not roleplaying this time,” Marco offers and it’s a small consolation.

The pillow does help a little as well and the groans quiet down after an incredible crescendo and even though they’re never gone entirely, Mario falls asleep.

Or he would, if it wasn’t for Marco.

“This is all your fault anyway, Mario.” he says, clearly still completely awake.

Mario lifts the pillow from his head and cracks open one eye.

“Huh?”, he asks sleepily and regrets it immediately because he shouldn’t encourage Marco at all.

“Like, if it was still the three of us sharing Mats’ and my room, he wouldn’t come here with Benni. He can’t sexile _both_ of us. But ever since you left us, all harmony has fallen apart.”

“Why do you still bring that up?!”, Mario groans. “When I left you? Don’t be so melodramatic, I literally just moved out of our cramped room when this one opened up. It’s still the same fucking dorm apartment.”

“I feel the betrayal deep inside of my heart, bro.”

“Your heart is a ball of deep frying-fat from all the fast food you eat.”

“Right back at you, chubby cheeks.”

“Ye- Yes, _so good_ , Benni, so good,” Mats interrupts them and the sounds of rustling and breathing start again. Mario cannot comprehend how this is his life.

“Sleep,” he orders Marco and presses the pillow over his ears.

\--

Mario actually wakes up on time the next day and he steps on Marco on purpose when he gets up. Marco is annoyed enough that he gets up as well, they eat their cereal and go to class together.

Mario isn’t entirely sure why he heads to _Pep’s_ again during his lunch break, because, yeah, yesterday's candy is already gone but he shouldn’t buy new bags every day anyway. He still heads to the candy aisle right away and gets on his tiptoes for the highest shelf.

He props himself up on a carton of chocolate and almost artistically manages to reach for the caramel when he is interrupted again, just like the day before, this time by the sound of chuckling.

Mario turns around and sees Hot And Tall leaning against the shelves on the other side. He’s got his arms crossed and looks at Mario’s attempts in amusement, trying to suppress a grin.

Hot And Tall is wearing a polo shirt with the _Pep’s_ logo today and he balances glasses on his nose, the nerd type with a thick, black frame but he’s rocking them.

“Nice to see you again,” he says, “have you ever tried spinach? I heard it’s good for growth.”

“See if you’re still up for jokes when I tell the store manager you’re discriminating against short people.” Mario replies and Hot And Tall laughs.  
It’s a sound Mario would like to hear again and again and maybe it’s a little weird that the first instance Mario flirts with someone after a long time of... _not doing that_ is in the middle of a supermarket aisle.

“You around here often?” Mario asks and wants to hit his head on something hard immediately when the words leave his mouth. They’re in a supermarket, of course people come there often, to buy stuff or sell stuff, it’s sort of the point of a supermarket.

“I, uh, I work here,” Hot And Tall says and gestures at the logo on his breast pocket.

“Right, yeah. That’s cool!” Mario replies emphatically and cringes inwardly. He’s saved by the announcement that ‘Mr Boateng should clean up aisle three, right away’ and Hot And Tall – family name Boateng apparently – has to go fulfill his duties.

Before he leaves though, he takes the bag of candy without even having to stretch and drops it into Mario’s hands.

“Thank you for shopping at _Pep’s_ ,” Hot And Tall repeats his line but this time with a toothy grin and winks at Mario, easily living up to his nickname.

At the register, Mario says yes for the first time when he’s asked whether he wants a loyalty card. If the whole thing was just an elaborate marketing gag to increase sales by employing attractive shop assistants, it would work perfectly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: I'm short. I have a tall friend who had to get me a measuring cylinder from a shelf on multiple occasions.  
> I've never had trouble in supermarkets though and Mario is taller than me but this is for the sake of the meet-cute.
> 
> Anway, this is going to have two, maybe three chapters so don't expect anything too long.
> 
> The fics focusing on Mario are suspiciously piling up (two!) even though he's not that high on my list of favs. Hmmm.
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/anexactscience), ahoy!


	2. Chapter 2

 Mario arrives back at the dorm at the same time as Mats and Benni and they head to their rooms together where Benni puts on the kettle to make coffee.

Whenever Benni visits, it’s like he makes it his job to manage the ‘household’ which basically means that dishes will magically be washed after weeks of lying around, their bathroom will be clean and somehow there will always be hot coffee around.

Marco often says that Benni is the only reason Mats hasn’t died in a pile of ready meals yet and that it’s truly a miracle for everyone involved that they met. If Benni himself is around to hear it, he just threatens to beat Marco up and hands him the sock he lost a month ago.

“How did you two spend the day?,” Mario asks, stretching to get his mug from the top of the fridge, “I wouldn’t have thought you’d be able to leave the bed.”

Benni clears his throat and pointedly concentrates on his fingers as he opens the tin with coffee powder. Mats laughs smugly and sneaks his arms around Benni’s waist from behind.

“You’re jealous, how cute” he says and doesn’t even have the decency to make it sounds like a question, “it’s time I introduce you to someone who is single and ready to mingle.”

Mario rolls his eyes and lets Benni pour a generous amount of coffee into his mug. Mats doesn’t give up though.

“Come on, I know you’re secretly a romantic at heart and want a knight in shining armour to sweep you off your feet. And you’re hardly going to meet that guy at a bus station or in a supermarket.”

Mario probably blushes, as he has a very limited amount of control over the way his blood circulation works, but not enough for Mats to notice and tease him. Serves him right for being too stubborn to wear his glasses.

“Whatever,” Mario waves it off and takes his coffee into his room where he turns the _Pep’s_ loyalty card in his hands for a minute until he facepalms and picks up a book.

\--

Mario’s feet lead him to the supermarket the next time quite automatically and he doesn’t fully realise where he is until he finds himself comparing two types of apples next to an old woman in beige.

“The Braeburn apples are very tasty, if I can offer my help, young man,” she says, smiling, and points at a crate that looks exactly like the other ones with a bony finger.

“Uh, yeah, thank you!” Mario replies awkwardly and takes two apples and puts them into his shopping cart because he doesn’t want to seem impolite. When he turns into the next aisle and made sure the woman didn’t follow him, he drops the bag of apples onto some random shelf next to paper towels.

Mario checks out the candy aisle because he can, that’s why, and Hot And Tall isn’t there. It’s not like Mario can expect him to hang out there all the time anyway but he would really like to know his name at some point since _Hot And Tall Boateng_ is not a good way to introduce him to friends.

With his head lowered, Mario pushes his cart past the candy, the wine bottles and the freezers until he suddenly runs into a wall.

A very human wall, it turns out, with arms and legs and black glasses and matching ear studs. Wearing a staff apron.

Mario looks up into Boateng’s face and winces in embarrassment.

“God, I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean to hit you.”

Boateng brings one hand to his chest, right over his heart, and sighs dramatically.

“We have to stop meeting like this. My father wouldn’t approve!” he says in the swooning voice of an 18th century maiden.

Mario can’t help but laugh and runs his fingers through his hair because he’s been told that it makes him look handsome. He can’t really remember who said it and if it was Marco’s advice, he might be better off not doing it but he can see Boateng follow his motion and Mario knows he just won at something. Whatever it is.

“Hey... I’m Mario, by the way! Since I hit you in the crotch with a shopping cart, we should probably be on first-name basis.”

“I didn’t know there was a code of conduct for these situations but then again I haven’t been hit much with shopping carts. Angry customers usually use tomatoes to throw.”

“They do?”

“No. That was a joke.”

“Oh.”

There’s almost a chance for awkward silence to develop (apart from the cheerful voice advertising sausages over the supermarket loud speakers) but Boateng laughs and offers Mario his hand.

“I’m Jérôme, Jérôme Boateng, since we’re being formal. Nice to meet you.”

Mario takes his hand and puts the name _Jérôme_ away safely, for further use.

They look at each other, Mario with about a thousand things on his mind, none particularly useful.

His eyes travel up from Jérôme’s red sneakers to his styled hair and back down until they catch on Jérôme’s watch and Mario has to curse inwardly when he sees the time.

He apologizes so profusely Jérôme actually looks at him weird and Mario has to leave the supermarket to catch Marco for their gym sessions, since he never actually planned this trip to _Pep’s_ anyway.

Jérôme stops him before he can walk away.

“I work this shift every day on weekdays, between classes, you know.”

“That’s... oh! Oh! Yeah, alright!”

Jérôme smiles.

And Mario is weak. He’s weak so whenever he can manage he comes to the supermarket during his lunch breaks now, buys some alibi bread or chewing gum and looks out for Jérôme.

Jérôme makes fun of Mario for being short and Mario takes it with a grin because he knows Jérôme will lick his lips and smile at him and maybe this is the weirdest situation Mario has ever been in: Supermarket Rendezvous.

\--

“Hey, Mario, back again, I see.”

“Well, I was in the mood for some caramel candy.”

“It’s still on the highest shelf.”

“You’re here to help customers, aren’t you?”

\--

“Have you tried carrying a step ladder with you?”

“Fuck you!”

\--

“Are you responsible for the vegetable section now as well?”

“Not really, but I saw you and I figured these leeks are pretty hard to reach.”

“They’re at eye level.”

“Let me help you.”

\--

“Hm, I think if I give you a leg-up, you might be able to reach the shelf.”

“What are you even getting paid for?”

\--

“Just give me the goddamn candy and don’t stand there watching me humiliate myself.”

“You’re cute, jumping up and down.”

“Give me the candy, Jérôme. Please.”

“How about I give you the candy and my number.”

“Oh. _Oh!_ Yes!”

“I do hope you planned to ask for it on your own at some point.”

“Yeah, totally, I mean you’re – and I’m – yes. Yes! Thank you.”

\--

Let’s just say, the points on Mario’s loyalty card are adding up. And so are the items he buys at _Pep’s_ , just to buys _something_ whenever he’s there.

Which is just about an indication as to why Mats, Marco and Toni take him aside in their living room one day, meaningful looks on their faces (or slightly confused in Toni’s case).

“This is an intervention, Mario,” Mats says seriously and Mario is happy that they at least didn’t gather the whole dorm wing to do this, whatever it is.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“We don’t know what’s wrong with you in detail, but it has stop. You’ve bought the third fresh bread this week and the bags of gum and candy are piling up under your bed.” Mats replies and puts one hand heavily on Mario’s shoulder in a mocking dad-and-son gesture.

“Do you know about some nuclear catastrophe you’re preparing for?” Marco adds and Mario can’t even tell whether he’s joking or not anymore.

“I hate you both so much! So much!” Mario groans and adds, pointing at Toni, “I expected better from you! Since when are you ganging up with them?”

“I’m just here because they said it was important. I have no idea what’s going on.” Toni replies and from the look on his face, Mario can tell he’s not lying. Mats and Marco, especially put together, just tend to have a very persuading effect on people.

“Don’t you try to distract us! Tell us right now what’s wrong!” Marco pressures with a raised finger.

“Oh my _god_ , what are you talking about?” Mario says but he sort of has an idea since he can add _food + buying + himself_ together easily.

“Your recent obsession with supermarkets! _Pep’s_ to be exact, apparently. Since when do you regularly buy at that posh store? Huh?”

Mario looks at his friends – Marco with the fingers still raised, Mats with what is probably supposed to be a piercing look and Toni looking like he just wants to get back to his books.

“How is a supermarket posh?” Mario slowly says but he knows he’s not getting out of this.

“Uh, _Pep’s_ has all that organic shit, dumbass,” Marco explains, rolling his eyes, “with like gold borders on the packages and expensive cheese.”

Mats nods along like he’s the back-up in a very sad rap battle.

Mario keeps up angry eye-contact with Marco for a whole minute before he falters.

He sighs and admits, “It’s because of a guy, alright?”

Mats positively _squees_ and drags him onto the couch by his shirt sleeve, Marco follows behind. Toni still stands there with his hands in his pockets so Mario takes pity on him and motions him to get out of the room which Toni gladly does, hurriedly.

Mats and Marco stare at Mario like the two Siamese Cats in _Lady and the Tramp_.

“Spill!”

Mario shrugs and lets his head hit the back of the couch. “There’s not a lot to spill really. His name is Jérôme, he works at _Pep’s_ , he helped me reach the candy a couple of times and then he gave me his number.”

“Aaaand you’re totally into him.”

Mario huffs but sure, that’s a pretty definite yes there.

“So what’s the problem? You’ve got his number, for god’s sake!” Marco says wide-eyed as if that’s all a relationship needs in his mind.

“I’ve just, uh, sort of neglected to ever call him and now it’d be weird. I still go and see him at _Pep’s_ but. It’s different, Jesus, I don’t know.”

Marco and Mats share a look because together they’re at least four times as emotionally stunted as Mario.

“I mean,” Marco starts, “it can’t be that hard to get a date with a guy who has already seen and is okay with the massive amount of candy you consume.”

“Anyway, he probably gets employee discount. Discount at _Pep’s_ , just imagine! Gourmet food! ” Mats adds and Mario promptly shoves a cushion into Mats’ face.  
If it wasn’t for Benni, Mats wouldn’t even know what ‘gourmet’ meant but Mario bites back that comment.

He has other things on his mind, namely _Jérôme_.

\--

There is no reasonable explanation as to why Mario lets Mats tag along for shopping, except maybe 1) that they do need things other than candy and bread in their kitchen and 2) that Benni is unavailable for Skype Sex to keep Mats entertained when he’s not defiling library books.

Obviously they head to _Pep’s_ because the credit points on Mario’s loyalty card have reached an embarrassing level and if anything is going to come out of all this, it might as well be a twenty euro discount and an enamel pan.

A lot of people in _Pep’s_ uniforms are buzzing around between the shelves but Mario can’t see Jérôme among them. It’s delusional to think he’d always be around but strangely, that’s what it had been like. Jérôme _had_ always been around.

Mats and Mario find a platter of small party sausages that is laid out for customers to try and, eventually, buy them. The two of them ignore that last part and pick up sausage after sausage with the provided tooth picks.

“Dude, _Aldi_ doesn’t have free food,” Mats mumbles through his stuffed mouth and earns a disgusted look by a woman who walks past them with her kid.

“Don’t talk when you’re eating, that’s so icky,” Mario responds and takes another sausage, the second to last one.

Mats doesn’t respond, instead his eyes are caught on something behind Mario and he uses his toothpick to gesture at it.

“Is that your guy? Jérôme?” Mats asks and Mario turns around as quickly and as unsuspiciously as possible.

It’s indeed Jérôme who is stocking the shelf with milk cartons, Mario can tell just from seeing his back. There’s only one thing that keeps him from walking over and starting a conversation: Mats.

Mats’s might think he’s hot stuff but in the end the story is that he met Benni when he shit-talked Schalke for thirty minutes in front of a random stranger who turned out to be a Schalke fan – i.e. Benni – in a bar which was just about less than smooth.

Mario would really like to avoid a situation like that with Jérôme so he violently shakes his head and shoves Mats away into an aisle where Jérôme is out of view.

“ _Right_ ,” Mats huffs with a frown but probably just because he’s grieving for that last sausage he didn’t get to eat.

They gather the food they need plus a bag of Mario’s favourite candy that he makes Mats reach for because what else is the use of having tall friends?

When they return their shopping cart, loaded with shopping bags, Mario spots Jérôme heading out of the back entrance but he quickly looks away. It makes him feel like he’s spying on him which, uh. _No._

\--

When Marco starts talking about this new guy he met in his pretentious musicians club the next day (contrary to his own belief, Marco does _not_ know how to play any kind of instrument), Mario has to lend one ear to that, the other ear to Mats and Benni as usual and he fails to grow a third to listen to Toni’s worries. Enough, he thinks, enough, maybe I should have studied some shit like biology somewhere far away without all of these fools. Time to think about himself.

Mario starts writing texts to Jérôme a couple of times but it’s weird and he spends too much time trying to choose smileys and deleting them. Face to face is better, he decides and drops any and all pretense when he goes to the supermarket and walks straight into the candy aisle.

Only a skater guy looking at biscuits is there but Mario reaches for the caramel candy like it’s the magic spell that makes the prince appear out of nowhere. He hops up and down but nobody helps him until –

Someone’s arms close around Mario’s waist and lift him up by the couple of centimetres he needs to reach the shelf.

“You’re trying new techniques of annoying customers, huh?” Mario asks, a smile spreading across his face, but when he turns around, it’s not Jérôme who’s standing there in a _Pep’s_ employee polo shirt.

“You’re not Jérôme.” Mario states dumbfoundedly although it’s entirely natural that a supermarket should have more than a) one employee and b) more than one tall employee. And hell, Mario has seen plenty of them in the aisles and at the registers.

“I know,” the other guy says and points at his name tag. It says _Mr Neuer_. “But you _are_ Mario, right?”

When Mario nods, the guy looks at the palm of his hand like he has something written down there that he has to read out loud.

“Okay, Jérôme told me to tell you that he has a day off because he’s sick. And also that you should go fuck yourself.”

Mario nearly falls over in shock.

He manages to croak “What.” but that’s about the most of his capabilities right now.

The guy shrugs nonchalantly, already moving to leave the aisle. He’s sort of a dick, Mario thinks.

He has no idea what he might have done wrong to the extent that Jérôme has to send a messenger to tell him off but it has to be something pretty bad.

He wrecks his head all the way home until he can’t hold back any longer and texts Jérôme, finally.

_to JB:   hey, mario here?_

_to JB:   uh, thats not a question. its mario here. the guy from the supermarket_

_to JB:   some guy told me to go fuck myself in your name today whats up with that?_

_from JB:   so suddenly you can use the phone, i see_

_to JB:   i liked talking to you in the flesh more_

_from JB:   well i don’t want an affair between aisles if you catch my drift_

_from JB:   me or him, is what i’m saying_

_to JB:   wait you or who?_

_from JB:  mr olando bloom from the cover of gq_

_to JB:   what? i dont get it_

_from JB:    hrrrg_

_from JB:  tomorrow at Pep’s during my shift_

_to JB:  i thought you’re sick?_

_from JB:   oh god you’re so slow_

_from JB: see you tomorrow_

If there’s one thing on this planet that Mario really doesn’t get (apart from what Marco’s major actually is, because Mario has no idea), then it’s Jérôme. But he loves it.

\--

Mario walks into the supermarket with shaking knees. It sounds ridiculous and probably looks even more so but he’s either about to fix something or fuck it up and Mario’s only ever been good at one of those two things.

He finds Jérôme kneeling on the floor, putting on price labels, and clears his throat to get his attention.

“Condoms for you and your lover boy are in aisle five,” Jérôme says, so unmoved that he has to realise that he’s talking to Mario because he wouldn’t treat a normal customer like that, probably. It makes absolutely no sense and Mario wants to cry a little.

“I don’t need condoms,” he replies, slowly and confusedly.

“That’s stupid,” Jérôme says and gets up from the floor to face Mario, “Safe sex is important.”

 _That_ ’s really not the thing Mario wants to talk about right now, no, so he draws his fingers through his hair and starts anew.

“So I like you. Like _like_ you.” Mario states and he briefly thinks about expanding on that because it seems awfully short but then again, Jérôme was there when it happened.

A short smile flickers across Jérôme’s face when he hears the words but Mario can still see the doubt about god-knows-who-in-GQ-magazine in his eyes.

“That’s. Amazing.” Jérôme says and Mario can hear the ‘but’ before he even says it, “But I can’t do this if I’m just one of your... sugar daddies or whatever, in addition to your lover boy, that you keep to help you reach high spaces.”

That’s so ridiculous Mario would laugh if it wasn’t so important to him.

“What? How did you even come up with that?” Mario frowns and frowns some more but it still doesn’t fit. He mentally revisits the last time he saw Jérôme but he doesn’t suddenly remember any sugar daddies that tagged along with him. Except – oh. Except _Mats_. Tall, objectively good-looking, helped him reach the candy. Oh.

“Mats is my _friend_ ,” Mario emphasizes, “and his boyfriend would beat me up if that was any different.”

He looks up at Jérôme who looks back over the rims of his glasses.

“Are you sure?” Jérôme asks and squints.

Mario throws up his hands in pretend-exasperation.

“Am I sure? Am I sure that Mats is my friend? Am I sure that I don’t keep a circle of tall minions to spoil me? Am I sure that I _like_ you?”

Mario purposefully leaves a pause before he continues.

“Yes.” he says and smiles. “Yeah, I am.”

They look into each other's eyes for a long, long moment before a voice over the loud speakers ruins it and Jérôme nearly drops the labeling machine he’s still holding when he hears himself being called into the storage rooms by the shop manager.

“I’ve got to go,” Jérôme says regretfully and Mario shrugs helplessly.

“It’s alright. I’ve got your number.”

Jérôme nods, then he hesitates, looks at Mario, at his own hands, at Mario again.

Finally, he breathes out loudly as if he just worked up his courage, pecks Mario on the cheek and smiles crookedly, then he walks away to check the storage rooms.

“Thank you for shopping at _Pep’s_!” Mario calls after him and Jérôme laughs, loudly and sincerely.

"Oh god, I hate this job." Jérôme mutters just loud enough for Mario to hear the fondness in his voice.

Mario can't help but grin like a fool.

Someone, he thinks, is about to spend a hell of a lot loyalty points on roses and chocolate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It ended up being two chapters and I only managed to put half the details I had in mind into it but I hope you still enjoy it. Happy New Year, in case we don't hear from each other again until then!


End file.
